Multiple sound track film selector device



J. J. RAUscH April l0, 1'945'.

MULTIPLE SOUND TRACK FILM SELECTOR DEVICE Filed oct. 20, 1943 3sheets-Sheet 1 NVQ@ April 10, 1945. .1. J. RAuscH 2,373,260

MULTIPLE SOUND TRACK FILM SELECTOR DEVICE Filed oct. 2o,v 1943. ssheetsi-sheet-z April 1o, 1945` J J, RAUS'CH 2,373,260

MULTIPLE SOUND TRACK FILM SELECTOR DEVICE Filed 0ct, 20, 1943 3Sheets-Sheet 3 S I l 20 films lsuch as areiused in-motionpicture pro`.fact

graph record.

` a new and improved and relatively. simple and "lector and transverselyacross and relative to a f time sinned inthe mentes Apr. 1o, i945 l OPAT' einen mex mM; sumaron Home I Joseph). Rausch, to Litho AEuullunent siSupply Co., Chicagdlll., ,a cov` partnership consisting of Emelia: E.Valetti and Cannot E. Valetti application october# zo,x isis, serial No.somos.

' s claims. (ci. ris-mom' This' invention relates to aselectormechanlsm,for use in coniunction with multi-track sound iectors. per se, and inother devices such, for ex ample, as in coin-operated sound movies,.coinoperated musical instruments, and the like. Sound illms are alsonow employed for lconducting or j aiiordingmore'or less continuousmusical orlike entertainment and for educational instruction which maybe In the form of narration or the like with or without theaccompanimentof motion pictures. Moreoverisuch soundlms are being used in certaininstances for musical entertainment in place ofphonographs and have theadvantage over phonographs which resides in the that theymay be employedas lengthy lms which are alternately windable oi from and onto the feedreel' and the take-up reel of a sound pro--A jector with which they maybe used and hence the present invention and the purview of the ap- Inthe drawings.

Fig. 1 .is a side elevational view illustrating a l preferred form ofthepres'ent invention as bodied in a sound projector; Fig. 2 is a topplan view ofthe/'sound lprojector showninFlg. 1; w s. Y

Fig. 3 is an venlarged* centralvertical sectional 'i0 view of the newselectorv deviceon line 3-3 'in Fig. 1; .i

Fig. iis a lvertic sectional view on line B-Ji inFig.3; Fig. 5 isa'sectional planyiew of the new se- -l lector device on line 5-5 in Fig.4;

Fig. 6 is anenlargedsectlonal view on line 6 6 in Fig. 3 andillustrating the latching mechanism embodied inthe selector device;

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the condenser lens they may aiord a longercontinuous entertain-A l0 housing wiiioi'is emed in the new apparatus;

ment than it is possible to obtain .from a phono An object of thepresent invention is to provide eiicient selector device for selectivelypicking up and translating any desired sound 'track of a multiple soundtrack iilxn .and so as to enable the sound tracksto be picked up oneAnother object o! the invention is to provide-a. novel manually operableselector device for-mov ing the exciter lamp and the condenser lens unitof the new selector apparatus transversely across f and relative to boththe light gate oi a soundpro multiple sound track film passedtherethrough.

A furtherobject of the invention is to provide a novel selector devicewhich will positively maintain the exciter lamp and the condenser lensunit associated therewith in properregistry with a selected sound trackin thesound iilx'n and relative 'to the photolelectric cell embodied inthe light v gateof the apparatus.v

'Other end further objects of the present inapparent from thefollowlngde'- 45 same or equivalent principles may be used and Istructural changes maybe made as desired by art without departing fromafter the other. v

and

. Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view of a typical multiple sound track filmwith which the new selector device may be employed in a the like.

The present invention is shown in thedrawings as being embodied in asound motion picture pro--4 vjector which is generally indicated/at I0and which is mounted upon a supporting base' or pedestal I I upon whichan `electro-audio ampliiier'unit I2 is also arranged. the electro-audioainpliiier unit I2 being merely indlc'atedin the drawings since the samefornisno part of the present invention.

invention is shown as being'embodied comprises \a pair of reversiblereels. namely. a feed reel Il and a take-up reel which are rotatablymounted upon supporting arms I5 and II, and the reels I8 and Il maybedriven by means of suitable -powertransmitting instrumentalities such asthe power-transmission belts I1 and I8, respectively.

'A multiple sound trackillm I! is alternatelyv windabler on from kandonto the' feed reel I3 and` the Vtake-up reel Il; and. for the purposeof the present invention, the sound viilinA I0 is being shownasembodyingtive sound tracksBT-(Fig`.8)

although it will be understood that the present invention may beemployed with a sound iilm embodyingv a greater or smaller number otsound tracks. 'I'he present invention is primarily concerned with aselector device tion with sound projector or The sound projector` Il inwhich the present whichis'used in cconiunc -k thelight gate which isembodied in l w N'sound' projector. as II,-such a lightgate beinggenerally indicated at 20. The sound nlm I9 is guided into position formovement across the light gate 20 by means of guide rollers 2|' and 22which are arranged at opposite ends of the light gate 20, andthe soundfilm l9 is advanced across the light gate 28 by means of afilm-advancing sprocket 23 which is arrangedat one side of the lightgate 20; the film ,I9 being maintained in proper mesh with thehlm-advancing sprocket 23 by means ofguide rollers as 24, 25 and 26. The8l1ide'ro1lers/25 and 26 are carried by rockets 21 and 28 which,together with the rollers 25 and 26 carried thereby, are urged bysprings 28 and 3B, respectively, in directions to force ythe sound film|9 intoproper engagement with the film-guiding f roller 24 and thefilm-advancing sprocket 23.'

of the present invention and is shown in the drawings, and has beenreferred to hereinbefore.

so that a typical environment and use of the preswall of the focusinglens housing 46 (Fig. 3).

' An electric exciter lamp 58 is arranged within the slidable sleeve orcarrier 43. This exciter v Alamp is mounted in a socket 5| which, inturn,

ent invention, which will now be described, may

vention is concerned with a sound track selector device winch isassociated with the light gate elcric cell 3i (Figs. l3 and 4) which'isarranged in a housing or casing 32, The photo-electric cell 3| ismounted in a socket 33 and the socket 33, in turn, is mounted in abracket 34 which is attached to a vertically extending supporting wall35, the wall 35 being, in turn, mounted upon the supporting base orpedestal at the front of the amplier unit l2 (Figs. 3 and 4). Thesocketor base 33 for the photo-electric cell is electrically connected, in aconventional way, by way of conductors 36 (Fig.'3) with theelectro-audio amplifier unit l2.

4As shown in`Flgs. 3 and 4, the bottom wall of the housing 32 for thephoto-electric cell 3| is provided with a light aperture `or slot 31.'This lightV aperture or slot 31 is disposed in registry with a lightaperture or slot 38 winch is formed in a curved lm-guiding shoe 39, andthe filmguiding shoe 33, in turn, is stationarily fastened, as at S,Fig. 4, to and on the upper wall surface 40 of a generally cylindricalhousing 4| which is stationarily mounted at its rear end upon the uplright supporting wall 35 (Figs. 3 and 5) A light aperture or slot 42 isformed in the upper wall 48 of the stationary housing 4|, and thisslotor light aperture 42 is disposed in registry with and below the light`aperture or slot 38 in the nlm-guiding shoe 39 (Figs. 3 and 4). n

A generally cylindrical sleeve or carrier 43 is slidablymounted in thehousing 4| and the upper wall of this slidable sleeve 43 fs provddedwith a boss 44lin which a socket 45 is provided. A housing or mounting48 for a condenser lens unit 18 is mounted in the socket 45 and thishousing 48= has a reduced upper endy portion "which is slidably guidedinthe slot 42 in the upper wall. 48

of the housing..4|. The condenser lens unit 18 (Figs. 3 and 4) isarranged in the housing or mounting 48 but inasmuch as both thecondenser -lens unit 18 and its-.housing 48 are of conven- `tionaldesign a :detailed description thereof is l and the lightgate 20includes a .stationary photois mounted upon the rear wall 52 of theslidable sleeve 43 (Fig. 5) and the socket 5| has an elec- The rear endportion of the housing 4| is provid; d with a pair of bosses 54 andformed in each `of these bosses 54 is a socket 55 (Fig. 5).` Theapparatus thus far described forms no part A pair of guide lugs or pins58 areattached to the rear wall52 of the slidable sleeve' or carrier '43(Fig. 5) and each of these guide lugs 56 projects into and is slidablyguidrd in one of the sockets 55. A coil spring 51 is arranged in each ofthe sockets 55 and these springs 51 normally urge the slidable sleeve orcarrier 43 and the exciter lamp 50 and the condenser lens unit 18, andits housing 46-41 carried thereby outwardly, that is to say, from rightto left as seen in Fig. 3, or from top to bottom as seen in Fig. 5.

The generally cylindrical housing' 4| includes a removable and flangedend closure Wall 58 which is detachably secured to the body of thehousing 4l by suitablefastening elements such as the thumb screws 14(Fig. 5).

The-closure wall 58 of the housing 4| has an outwardly projecting boss89 formed thereon and provided in this boss 69 isa bearing opening 15 inwhich a rotary shaft 59 is journaled. A circular cam 80 is mounted uponthe near end -portion of the rotary shaft 59, and rearwardly ofthe innersurface of the closure member or end wall 58 of the housing 4'|, asshown in Fig. 3. The cam has an inwardly projecting annular skirt (Figs.3Y and 5) and the inner edge of this skirt .slots 1l) are formed in theboss 89 ofthe wall 58 (Figs. `3 and 6) and a socket 1| is formed in therotaryv shaft 59. A latch element in the form of a latchball 12 isarranged in the socket 1| and this latch element or ball 12 is urgedradially .outwardly in the socket .'ll, and into wiping en the socket 1|(Fig. 6).

(lil

A circular selector dial or cap 86 is mounted upon and xed to the rotaryshaft 59, by means of a suitable fastening element, such as the bolt 18,and numerical -or other soundtrack selector inldicia, as 81, areprovided upon the peripheral surface-of the yselector dial 88 (Fig. 5),to indicate deemed unnecessary. It will be understood, how'- "A pair ofspaced finger grips orknobs are pro-` vided onthe selector "dial '68,each of these knobs being inthe Vform of a-screw having a knurledheads!) (Figs. 3 and 5).

The use and operation of the present invention are as follows: I'hesprings 51 normally urge the sliding sleeve or carrier 43 in a direction(right to left.. Fig. .3) to dispose the head 63 of the bolt to bringthe light slit 11 in tion 41 of the condenser lens housing- 46 into`other selected sound'. track in thesounddlm I9.v

sans@ Saeed with the spiral cam surface 8l of the rotary cam', and whenthe .stop arm .82.v of tliecam surface 6| is also engaged with the head,of the bolt 84, as in Fig. 3,. the light aperture or slit 11 in theupper endportion 41 of the condenser lens housing 46 is disposed inregistrywith one of thesouter-s'ound tracks in the sound film I9 andfwsound track. In this arrangement of the parts the numerical indicium 1on the rotary selector dial 68 is disposed in the position in which itis ,shown in Fig. 5, namely, at the top and center of the dial so as toindicate the particular sound track on the film whichhas been selected.The entire length of the sound lm IS/may then :be runthrough the lightgate.20 in the projector vI9 so-as to reproduce thev selected soundtrack.

'io may beidentifled as the No. 1

During this operation light from the exciter lampv I9 passes through thecondenser lens unit 18 and through the light aperture end portion" ofthe condenser lens housing 48, thence .through the upper end portion ofthe slot 4;, through the-light aperture or slot 38 in the` u film guideshoe 39, thence through the selected No. l sound track in the sound illmI9, and then through the slot 31 into the photo-electric cell 3l. Inthis manner the photo-electric cell is jenergized and translates'variations from the sound trackv into corresponding variations ofelectrical current in the photo-electric cell 3l.

Such electricalV current variations in the 'photof -electric cell 3l arethereupon passed, by way of the conductors 36, into the electro-audioamplifier unit l2 by which such variations in electrical energy inthe\photoelectric cell 3| Vare reconvertedl or retranslated fromelectrical `energy or impulses into corresponding audio variations orIsoundswhich are amplified by the electro-audio amplifier. unit I2, inAa manner understood in the art.

After the selected No. v1 soundtrack on the'film has thus beenrunthrough the light gate' 29, and translated and reproduced,'the nlm I9may bereversed and rewound, or merely reversed,'in a or slit 11 in theupper which is well manner andy by means well understood in the art,whereupon the slldable ,carrier sleeve 43 and the exciter lomp so andthe condenserv lens housing-M and the condenser lens unit 18 carrledthereby may be shiftedin and relative to -the v sound Ifilm I9 andthesoundtracks therein so as the upper end porregis'try- 4with the No.1'2or 'riiis is ccomplisiied Vby manually grasping one of the hand knobs 89on theI selector dial 99 and rotating the selector glial 89, and-itssupporting shaft 59, and fthe?. thereby a predetermined. vcircumferential distance (counterclockwise,y 'as circular' cam 60carried' seen'f-in'Fig. 5); During this operation. the head "I8 of thevbolt 94 rides over and down thespiral cam surface 6I on .gagement withthe wider portion of the skirtof bolt 94 spiral cam surface 6I of therotary cam 80, under (right to left,'Fig. 3), thereby moving the exciterlamp and the condenserlens housing 48--41 and the condenser lens unit 19carried thereby relative to the light aperture or slot 42 and the soundii1mI9.` This moves the light aperture or slit 11 in the upper endportion 41 ofthe condenser lens housing 46 into registry with the No.2(or other selected) sound track on the sound lm I9..

shaft 59 and therotary earn Sli-8l carried thereby are thus rotated apredetermined circumferential distance suiilcient to move the lightaperture or slit 11 in the condenser lens housing L41 into registry withthe selected sound track tin the lm. I9 the spring 13 in the socket 1I cB3 on the bolt 94 will bedisposed in .engagement with `the narrowestportion of the skirt on the rotary cam 60 and the numeral 5 ontheselectr dial 66 will be disposed uppermost and centrally on the selectordial 66. However, rotary motion imparted to one of the knobs 6B and theselector dial 66 and cam 90 will force the latching detent or hall 12out of latching engagement in one of the latch slots 10 whereupon theshaft 59, selector dial 68 and the rotary cam 69 may then be rotated ina direction to bring the widest portion of the cam surface 6I and thestop arm 62 into engagement with the head 62 of the bolt 94. Thismovement of the cam 69 acts, through the bolt Bt-tt, to move the slidingsleeve or carrier 43'and the exciter lamp 50 and the condenser lenshousing B--M and the condenser lens unit 18 carried thereby back intotheir normal and initial position. as in Fig.-\3, and in which positionthe light aperture or slit 11 in the upper end' portion 41 of thecondenser lens housing 68 is disposed in registry with the No. 1 soundtrack on the film I9.

The present invention thus provides a novel 'but simple and efficientselector device for use in conjunction with sound motion pictureproiectors. coin-operated sound movie projectors and the rotary cam 90.out of enf the action of the springs 51, and the springs 51, c

,acting upon thelugs 58, urge the sliding sleeve or carrier andthe partscarried' thereby,

the like,'for easily and readily enabling any one,

v and-successively all, of ,the sound tracks in a sound nlm to be-picked up and translated ao reproduced into sound, and for maintainingthe exciter lamp and condenser lens units 49--41--11--18I in properregistry with the selectedfsound track upon'the sound ims It-.will thusbe seen that the present .invenftion accomplishes its intended objectsand has the desirable advantages and characteristics including thosewhich have' been speciically pointed out hereinbefore aswell as otherswhich are 4inherent in the' invention.

, .Iclaimz i 1. A'sound nlm track selector device compris- Jingasupporting frame,l a photoelectric cell, stationarily` mounted upon saidsupporting frame, a housing enclosing said photoelectric cell andstationarily mounted on said'supporting frame, said photoelectric cellhousingl including a. lower wall having an elcngatedlight slit formedtherein, a

As the rotary selector dial 96 and the rotaryl second housingstationarily mounted upon' said supporting frame below saidphotoelectric' cell housing and including an upper wall having anelongated light slit formed therein in registry with but below the saidelongated light slit in the said lower wall of said photoelectric cellhousing, a nlm-guiding shoe mounted upon the said upper wall of saidsecond named and stationary housing, and having an elongated light slittherein in registry with the said light slit in the said lower wall ofsaid photoelectric cell housing and in registry with the said light slitin the said upper wall of thev said second named housing but between thesaid rst and second-mentioned light slits, a carrier slidably mountedlin the said second named housing for movement in a direction parallel tothe long axes .or the said elongated `light slits, an exciter lampmounted in the said second named housing and upon the said carrier for`slidable movement therewith, a part of the said lower wall of saidphotoelectric cell housing being spaced slightly above the saidnlm-guiding shoe and above the said upper wall of the said second namedhousing and cooperating therewith to provide a film gate through which amultiple sound track iilm may be run in a direction transverse Arelativeto the long axes of the said 4elongated light slitsfa condenser lensunit mounted upon acum sound track wm be selected and che latching meanson the shaft will automatically .reg-

lster with and engage one of the latch receiving l openings within thehollow boss, thus iixing the in claim 1 in which the condenser lens unitincludes a condenser lens housing having an upper the said carrierbetween the said registered light slits andthe said exciter lamp fordirecting a beam of light from the said exciter lamp through the saidregistered light slits and through a selected sound track of a sound lmrun through the said lm gate, and means including a manually operableselector member affixed to a shaft and carrying therewith radiallyoutwardly4 Dro- .lected latehing means rotatably mounted upon a wallofthe said second namedhousing within a 'xed hollow boss which isprovided with a series l of spaced radially disposed latch receivingopenings adapted for registry with the said latching means forselectively sliding the said carrier and the 'said exciter lamp and thesaid condenser lens unit carried thereby within and relative to the endportion extending into and slidably guided in the said elongated lightslit inthe said upper wall of the said second named and stationaryhousing. l,

3. A sound. film track selector device as defined in claim l in whichthe condenser lens unit includes a condenser lens housing' havinganupper end portion extending vinto and s'lidably guided in the saidelongated light slit in the said upper wall of the said second named andstationary housing, and in which the said condenser lens housing has alight aperture formed therein in registry with the said light slit inthe upper wall of the said second named and stationary housing and inregistry with but below the said light slit in the said nlm-guiding shoeand the the said lower lwall of said stationary photoelec` tric cellhousing to provide a wall defining one side of said film gate. l

5. Asound nlm track selector device *as defined in claim 1 in whichapart of the lower wall of said stationary photoelectric cell housingrests upon a part of the upper wall of said secondnamed stationaryhousing, and in which a portion of the upper wall of said second-namedand upon rotation ofthe shaft and the latching v -means carried therebyand the cam selector whicheffectsjmovement of the carrier, theparstationary housing 4cooperates with a. portion ot the said lower wallof said stationary photoelectric cell housing to provide a wall'deningone side of said lm gate, and in which thespacing of a part of the lowerwall of said photoelectric cell housing from the upper Wall of said-second-'named and stationary housing provides:I an open throat throughwhich a soundfllm may be moved laterally into and out of said illm gate.

' JOSEPH J. RAUSCH.

